Articles Posted inCosmetic Surgery Errors

Medical malpractice lawsuits serve a preventative function on future errors in two ways. First, the risk of facing a lawsuit (or the expense of paying compensation after an error) works to spur change that prioritizes patient safety. Individual doctors and hospital administrators often enact new rules, training, and staffing in order to ensure quality standards are met one hundred percent of the time. The expense of these changes are justified if costs must be paid for errors. Alternatively, these lawsuits may serve to warn patients about which professionals or facilities offer a higher risk of harm. The idea is that, in the marketplace of options, medical patients will chose the safer facilities. Those facilities will ultimately be more successful. The lower quality facilities will either change or be driven out of business.

The second option–driven by consumer decisions–only works, however, when those consumer have easy access to understandable and reliable information about doctor quality. It is in that vein that more and more groups are trying to share information about doctors and hospitals. We have frequently written posts on some of those new rankings, including hospital data compiled by Consumer Reports and a group known as Leapfrog.

CBS2 News is reporting on the latest developments in a medical malpractice situation out of California. Last month we reported on this blog about the charges filed against two sisters, Guadalupe and Alejandro Viveros for operating an unlicensed cosmetic clinic.

Many of their clients ultimately informed authorities of problems that they had encountered following the cosmetic surgery performed by the sisters. For many clients the substances injected into them during surgery had hardened into a solid plastic. The hardened material often became infected, leading to serious health consequences for the former patients.

The case took another turn this week as one of the former patients died, purportedly as a result of the complications from the unknown substance injected into her by the sisters at the clinic.

KTLA News reports of another example of medical malpractice as two sisters are suspected of running an illegal cosmetic filler practice. The sisters, Guadalupe and Alejandra Viveros allegedly catered to a large group of clients, usually women, who sought out the pair to perform popular forms of cosmetic surgery. The most common surgery involved injections into the patients face and buttocks.

The two women reportedly had an extensive clientele list. However, many of those clients ultimately informed authorities of problems that they had encountered following the surgery. For many clients the substances injected into the patients during surgery had hardened into a solid plastic. The hardened material often became infected, leading to serious health consequences for the former patients.

Detectives investigating the claims soon discovered that the Viveros sisters were not even licensed to practice medicine. The elder sister, Guadalupe, claims to be a Mexican medical physician, but that of course does not automatically qualify her to practice medicine in the United States. The pair was arrested last week when the medical malpractice was discovered, and they are currently being held on $20,000 bail.

A state medical board filed accusations of gross negligence and incompetence against two surgeons for surgical error. A patient claims one of the surgeons performed unwanted medical procedures of a facelift and liposuction on her when she only agreed to a tummy tuck. The doctor is also accused of medical unprofessionalism by borrowing a large sum of money from the woman and forcibly kissing her. A second patient claimed this same doctor negligently failed to remove her breast implant during surgery which resulted in hospital admittance.

No one knew that the 18 year-old had a rare, genetic condition that cause a fatal reaction to the anesthesia when she decided to have plastic surgery and chose a surgeon to correct a congenital defect that left her with asymmetrical breasts and inverted nipples. Everything seemed very routine and nobody thought there would be risk involved. The condition that the family believes killed the 18 year-old is an extremely rare genetic disorder that causes a reaction to common types of anesthesia. The reaction is called malignant hyperthermia – it causes the patient’s temperature to spike to 110 degrees or higher. Salts precipitate out of the blood and organs collapse, leading to death.

More adequate care could have prevented this reaction because there is an antidote called Dantrolene that can reverse the effects of malignant hyperthermia. If administered in proper dosages in a timely fashion, the effects can be successfully reversed. However, according to the medical malpractice lawsuit attorney, the anesthesiologist administered only one dose when at least eight were required.

Kanye West’s mother, Donda West, died after two cosmetic surgery procedures performed by a California doctor. While Kanye West and his family mourn the death of his mother, Donda West, a lot of attention is focusing on the reputation of Donda West’s doctor who performed the operation. The Medical Board of California is investigating whether the doctor’s license should be revoked or suspended. The doctor had been arrested twice in the last four years for alcohol-related offenses. Additionally, the doctor paid two former patients a total of $467,337 in two medical malpractice lawsuit settlements in 2001.

A woman whose feet and fingers were amputated as the result of complications with her tummy-tuck surgery was awarded $30,000,000 by a jury in the personal injury lawsuit. The woman had the tummy-tuck to correct muscle damage due to three caesarean sections, and 20 days later blood and fluid began collecting in her wound, causing her extremities to turn blue. The emergency room “spent too little time treating [the woman] and left the hospital at one point to change his pants.” The hospital staff also failed to administer and analyze tests in a timely fashion. The woman’s feet and fingers were ultimately amputated as a result of medical malpractice and gross negligence.

A hospital and attending anesthesiologists have recently settled a malpractice lawsuit regarding gross negligence during a face-lift procedure for $3.1 million dollars. A 56 year-old-woman died of cardiac failure caused by an overdose of local anesthetic. Alarms that monitored the woman’s blood oxygen “were turned down so that they were inaudible”. That same year, author Olivia Goldsmith died during cosmetic surgery at that hospital as a result of medical malpractice. Another woman suffered brain damage after a face-lift and settled for $7 million.

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The purpose of this blog is to deliver news and information that is relevant to our areas of practice. The news and information reported on this blog represent the legal actions of attorneys throughout the United States. Our firm does not claim to represent plaintiffs in all of the lawsuits, settlements, and jury verdicts reported, only those noted as Levin & Perconti cases.